[VIDEO] An amazing 3D animation shows the destruction of Pompeii

The destruction of Pompeii has always been an interesting story, one of those stories that never get old. Over the course of 19 hours in 79 A.D., Pompeii, a prosperous trading centre on the Bay of Naples, was blanketed by ash and lava ejected from the volcano Vesuvius. It lay hidden from the world until its broad discovery in 1748 by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.

And even today, people are fascinated by the remains of the people killed by the volcano, but also by all the discoveries made through the years - baths, houses, tools, wine bottles, frescoes, graffiti, and even an ampitheater, an aqueduct, the “Villa of the Mysteries”.

It’s strange to think that the Vesuvio was the killer and yet the keeper of so many treasures.

The destruction of Pompeii started with an eruption that sent a column of gas and molten rock 30 kilometres into the air, eventually collapsing and covering the city and the 1,500 people who chose to remain in their homes. Most of Pompeii’s 15,000 people escaped before the volcanic material returned to earth and flowed into the city.

The victims of the eruption are probably among the most famous in the world: their bodies were encased in ash that that hardened around them as it cooled. The bodies decayed, leaving depressions that archeologists filled with plaster to make lifelike casts of people at their moment of death.

Zero One has created a spectacular animation for an immersive 3d theatre installation: its objective? To give the viewers the exact feel of being in Pompeii the night of the eruption.

Are you ready for this unique journey?